Local election error taints portion of votes so far
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PROPOSITIONS 4 & 5
Proposition No. 4 establishes a national research fund to help Texas universities to achieve national prominence.
Proposition No. 5 allows the Legislature to authorize a single appraisal review board for two or more adjoining ...
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PROPOSITIONS 4 & 5
Proposition No. 4 establishes a national research fund to help Texas universities to achieve national prominence.
Proposition No. 5 allows the Legislature to authorize a single appraisal review board for two or more adjoining and agreeing appraisal entities.
VOTER TURNOUT
In Victoria County, 51,289 voters registered for this election.
Voting Friday:
In Person: 59
By Mail: 7
By Mail Returned: 26
Voting totals to date
In Person:158
By Mail: 1,422
By Mail Returned: 599
George Matthews erred when wording two propositions on the in-person ballot machines used during early voting for the upcoming state election.
The Victoria County elections administrator said he accidentally duplicated the English version of Proposition 4 into Proposition 5 - and vice versa for the Spanish version.
"I goofed up. I hate that we have a mistake," Matthews said.
Early voting for the Nov. 3 Texas Constitutional Amendment Election began Monday. The error appeared only on the in-person ballot machines and not on mail-in ballots, Matthews said. Local elections officials discovered the error on Wednesday afternoon - after 48 Victoria County residents cast in-person votes.
"To the best of our knowledge, nobody voted in the Spanish version during the first three days," Matthews said.
Matthews said that because state constitutional amendments elections rarely draw large turnouts, his office implemented a two-stage review process instead of the three-stage process used for more high-profile elections.
Typically, his office reviews ballots twice and then sends them to an outside third party for review, he said. For this election, the editing process remained in-house.
During his office's initial review, an assistant noted the error and brought it to Matthews' attention. "I thought I fixed it," he said.
After the county's 49th would-be in-person voter found the error on Wednesday, Matthews notified the Texas Secretary of State's Office, closed the voting machines and collected the votes cast. He also posted a public notice of correction.
Then, he corrected the ballot errors and installed new voting equipment for the remainder of in-person early voting, he said. As of Thursday, all propositions are correct, he said. He will count all ballots cast during the first three days with votes cast during the remainder of the early voting.
"No voter who cast a ballot during the first three days will be allowed to vote again," Matthews said. "There are no provisions within the election code for a voter to vote twice."
The state's secretary of state's office confirmed that Matthews cannot discard the 48 tainted ballots and allow those voters to vote fresh.
"A county does not have the authority - without court action - to void the ballots and allow a re-vote," said Ashley Burton, a state spokeswoman.
However likely, it's unknown if the error misled the 48 voters or prompted them to vote against their wishes. Even so, the gaff will unlikely sway the state election, Matthews said.
Texas boasts 12 million registered voters. If 500,000 Texans vote during this election, 48 potentially tainted votes make little statistical difference - but could.
Early voting remains open at the elections office, 111 N. Glass St., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays until Oct. 30. During the last two days of early voting, hours extend from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you wish to vote by mail, request the ballots by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.
What would Matthews say to those who might suggest he erred purposefully?
"No. It was a mistake. I should have had another source outside the office check the work like in most elections," he said. "I didn't have my third round of review, so we're going to change our policy."
